Escrow cup for coin operated vending machines and the like



April 17, 1962 H. G. JENSEN ESCROW CUP FOR COIN OPERATED VENDINGMACHINES AND THE LIKE Filed May 51, 1960 4 INVENTOR. HERMAN G. J NSEN wve United States Patent Ohice 3,6303% Patented Apr. 17, 1962 sylvaniaFiled May 31, 1960, Ser. No. 32,781

9 Claims. (Cl. 232-575) This invention relates generally to an escrowcup for receiving coins deposited in an associated coin-operated vendingmachine tor the like, said cup being of the type adapted upon actuationto release said coins to a cash box if merchandise has been delivered tothe customer and to release said coins to a coin return if merchandisehas not be so delivered.

In a coin-operated vending machine it is desirable to provide means fortemporarily holding coins deposited therein rather than directing suchcoins immediately to a cash box from which they cannot be returned. Suchtemporarly coin-holding means are generally referred to as escrow cupsand they are designed to release coins deposited therein to either oftwo associated coin-receiving :means depending upon whether such coinsare to be retained in the machine or returned to the customer.

In other words, an escrow cup may be made responsive to the delivery ofmerchandise so as to release such coins to a cash box and it may also berendered responsive to actuation of a coin return button, if merchandisehas not been delivered, so as to release said coins to a coin returnchute or the like.

Previous attempts have been made to design a satisfactory escrow cup butsuch attempts have not been entirely successful. It is, of course,necessary to provide a movable door or floor member which upon actuationwill be displaced so as to create an opening through which the coinstherein may fall or be ejected. In many prior devices of this type themember upon which the coins rest is arranged to move in such a mannerthat upon actuation the coins are initially moved in a direction otherthan the opening. It will be understood that if an escrow cup isdesigned to release coins therefrom by permitting them to falldownwardly due to gravity, and most such devices are so designed,initial movement of said coins in any other direction will extend thetime required to release them from the cup.

Generally, the movable floor member or door is opened for only a briefperiod of time and such delay may thus cause the coins to be improperlyretained within the cup. For example, in one of the escrow cupsheretofore known the coins rest on a pivotally mounted floor memberwhich is adapted upon actuation to move to one side or the other toprovide an outlet opening. Such lateral movement of the floor memberwill tend to jostle the coins about within the cup and in such a devicethe door may often return to its closed position before the coins havebeen released.

Another problem encountered with prior devices of this type is jammingof the mechanism due to a coin becoming lodged within the cup in acrevice or the like. Even if any necessary clearances or crevices insuch a device are originally designed to be small enough to prevent thisproblem, yet any slight deformation of the parts or inaccuracy inmanufacturing will, inmany of the escrow cups heretofore known, cause anopening or crevice in which a small coin can become lodged so as tointerfere with the operation of the mechanism.

One object of this invention is, therefore, to provide an escrow cupwhich is reliable in its operation and which will upon actuation permitcoins deposited therein to be released quickly without jostling themabout or imparting any undesirable motion thereto.

cup which is not susceptible to jamming due to the lodging of a coinwithin the cup in a crevice or the like.

Another of my objects is to provide such a cup having a pair ofpivotally mounted gates or doors which are adapted to be positivelylocked when in their closed positions so as to prevent release of coinsdeposited therein except upon actuation of gate-opening means associatedtherewith.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparentfrom the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view, partly in section, of an escrow cupembodying my invention, a front wall being removed for'purposes ofillustration;

FIG. 2 is a rear elevational view of a pivotally mounted gate takenalong the line 22 of FIG. 1; and

PEG. 3 is a top plan view of said escrow cup.

Referring now to the drawings, it will be seen that in the embodimentillustrated my escrow cup comprises left and right-hand portions whichare symmetrical. For this reason, corresponding elements in the twosymmetrical portions will be identified by corresponding numerals, andthe numerals used to identify elements shown on the right hand side inFIGS. 1 and 3 will be primed.

A housing is provided which comprises a rear wall 20 and a front wall21. The rear wall has two projecting tubular members 22 and 22 integraltherewith at its upper end and three similar members 23, 24 and 23'integral with the lower end thereof. The front wall 21 carriescorresponding tubular projections arranged to mate with their respectivemembers on the rear wall. The corresponding projections at the upperportion of the front wall are designated as 25 and 25' and the lowerprojections as 26 and 26 (the tubular projection on the front wallcorresponding to the member 24 not being shown).

The members 22, 22 and 24 and their corresponding members on the frontwall are adapted to accommodate screws 27, 27' and-28, respectively,which serve to rigidly connect the front and rear walls to form aunitary housing. The members 23 and 23 carry guide pins 29 and 29 whichare arranged to fit within the corresponding members 26 and 26 on thefront wall to further stabilize the housing assembly. 2

A mounting plate 30 is aflixed to the rear wall 20 by any suitable meanssuch as the screws 27, 28 and 27' and a pair of side mounting plates 31and 31' are afiixed thereto by fasteners such as screws 32 and 32'.

In portions of the following description of my invention, reference willbe made to the left-hand side only of my escrow cup as shown in FIGS. 1and 3, since as previously stated the right-hand portion is symmetricalthereto.

The side mounting plate 31 carries a hinge. pin 33 and a gate 34 ispivotally suspended at its upper end on said pin. A torsion spring 35(see FIG. 3) is provided to bias said gate in a counter-clockwisedirection towards its closed position (the left-hand gate 34 being shownclosed in FIG. 1).

A solenoid 36 is afiixed to the mounting plate 31 by fasteners 37 and 38and said solenoid has a plunger 39 which is urged downwardly by acompression spring 4t) mounted thereon. A gate lever 41 is pivotallymounted on the plate 31 by means of a pin 42, said lever beingpositioned a desired distance from said plate by a spacer A furtherobject of the invention is to piovide an escrow A plate 44 which isintegral with the gate 34 projects rearwardly therefrom and has a slot45 formed therein. The free end of the gate lever 41 carries a pin 46which is accommodated in said slot whereby counter-clockwise movement ofthe lever 41 about its axis will cause the gate to be pivoted in aclockwise manner about its hinge 33 towards a vertical or open position(the right-hand gate 34' is shown in its respective open position inFIG. 1). The lower end of the solenoid plunger 39 is connected to thelever 41 by a pin 47 in such a manner that energization of the solenoid36 will pull said plunger upwardly and thus effect suchcounter-clockwise movement of said lever.

It will now be understood that energization of the solenoid 36 willcause the gate 34 to be pivoted about its hinge towards a respectivevertical or open position until the lower end of the plate 44 engages astop 43 which projects forwardly from the mounting plate 31. It willfurther be understood that upon deenergization of said solenoid the gate34 will be returned to its closed angular position as shown in FIG. 1 bythe action of the torsion spring 35 and the compression spring 40.

It is also important to note that when the gate 34 is in its closedposition the gate lever 41 is approximately perpendicular thereto. Withsuch an arrangement the lever 41 serves to positively lock the gate inits closed position so as to prevent the opening thereof other than byenergization of the corresponding solenoid.

Reference is now made to FIG. 2 which illustrates in detail theright-hand gate 34'. Said gate has a plurality of semi-circular recesses4-9 formed in each side thereof and a plurality of fingers 50 projectingdownwardly from its lower end. With reference to the recesses 49', thefront and rear walls 20* and 21 are each provided with two groups ofarcuate rib members 51 and 51' (the term arcuate as used herein isintended to refer to the longitudinal configuration of said ribs and notto their crosssectional contour) which are arranged to be accommodatedwithin said recesses in closely spaced relation thereto. The left-handgroup of rib members 51 (on both the front and the rear walls) cooperatewith recesses in the left-hand gate 34 and the right-hand rib members51' cooperate in a similar manner with the right-hand gate 34'.

In the embodiment shown the rib members are provided by forming arcuategrooves 52 and 52' in the front and rear walls, said-grooves being soarranged that the wall portions remaining therebetween comprise thedesired ribs. It will be noted that when the gate 34, for example, ispivoted about its hinge 33, the recesses 49 in the sides of the gatemove in an arcuate path. Consequently, the ribs associated therewith areformed to have longitudinal configurations'which conform respectively tosaid paths whereby the rib members will be accommodated within theirrespective recesses for all positions of the gate.

Coin receiving means are illustrated at 53 (see FIG. 1) and said meansmay simply comprise a divider or guide having two separate coin chutesdisposed beneath respective sides of the escrow cup, one leading to acash box within the associated vending machine and the other to a coinreturn.

Referring now to the operation of the invention, the gate 34 is shown inits closed angular position in FIGURE 1, and normally both of the gatesare locked in their respective closed angular positions so as to form aV- shaped structure which in conjunction with the front and rear wallsof the housing provides a cup or container adapted to hold coinsdirected thereto from above.

It will be noted that the fingers 50 on the gate 34 are staggered withrespect to those on the gate 34 so that when the gates are both inclosed angular positions the fingers on one gate project between thoseon the other (see FIG. 3). With such an arrangement the two gates arepermitted to overlap one another at their lower ends without forming anycrevices long enough to permit a coin to become lodged therein.

Similarly, because of the recesses in the sides of the gates and thecorresponding arcuate ribs formed on the front and rear walls of thehousing, the gates are free to pivot on their hinge pins and yet nocrevices are formed between said gates and walls of a length sufficientto permit a coin to enter.

When coins are deposited on a vending machine in which my escrow cup isembodied they are directed to said cup and are temporarily held thereinsince both gates are normally locked in their closed positions.

When incorporating this invention in a coin-operated vending machine orthe like, one of the two solenoids, 36 for instance, may be arranged tobe energized upon delivery of merchandise to a customer. For example, anempty bar (not shown) may be positioned in the path of an article ofmerchandise being ejected so as to be defiected thereby and thus effectthe closing of a switch so as to energize the solenoid 36. The solenoid36 will then be energized whenever merchandise is delivered and willcause the gate 34 to be pivoted towards its vertical or open positionwhereby the coins in the escrow cup will be dropped to the chutepositioned beneath said gate, which in this instance would lead to acoin box within the vending machine.

Furthermore, the solenoid 36 may be arranged to be energized byactuation of a coin return button placed on the exterior of the vendingmachine. Energization of the solenoid 36' will cause the gate 34' to bemoved towards its open position so as to permit any coins within the cupto be dropped to the chute positioned beneath said gate, which in thisinstance would be a coin return chute.

This invention can, of course, be applied in various ways and thepresent description should, thereore, be regarded as disclosing only anillustrative embodiment of the invention from which no unnecessarylimitations should be implied.

I claim:

1. An escrow cup for coin-operated vending machines and the like,comprising: a housing including a vertical rear wall and a parallelfront wall spaced therefrom; a pair of side gates pivotally suspended onparallel axes perpendicular to said walls, said gates being disposedbetween said walls in closely spaced relation thereto and being movableto respective closed angular positions so as to form a V-shapedstructure which in conjunction with said walls provides a containeradapted to hold coins deposited therein; a pair of coin-receiving means,one disposed beneath each of said gates; a pair of gate levers eachpivotally mounted at one end and having its other movable end arrangedto cooperate with a corresponding one of said gates for pivoting thelatter towards a vertical open position upon rotation of said lever,each lever being positioned approximately perendicular to itscorresponding gate when said gate is in its closed position so as to actas a brace and thus positively lock said gate against opening; and meansfor rotating a selected one of said levers to open its corerspondinggate whereby any coins within said container will be dropped to apredetermined one of said coin-receiving means.

2. An escrow cup for coin-operated vending machines and the like,comprising: a housing including a vertical wall and a parallel frontwall spaced therefrom; a pair of side gates pivotally suspended at theirupper ends on parallel axes disposed in the same horizontal plane andperpendicular to said walls, said gates being disposed between saidwalls in closely spaced relation thereto and being movable to respectiveclosed angular positions so as to form a V-shaped structure which inconjunction with said walls provides a container adapted to hold coinsdeposited therein; a pair of coin-receiving means, one disposed beneatheach of said gates; a pair of gate levers each pivotally mounted at oneend and having its other movable end arranged to cooperate with acorresponding one of said gates for pivoting the latter towards avertical open position upon rotation of said lever, each lever beingpositioned approximately perpendicular to its corresponding gate whensaid gate is in its closed position so as to act as a brace and thuspositively lock said gate against said recesses in closely spacedrelation thereto for all 7 positions of said gates.

4. An escrow cup for coin-operated vending machines and the like of thetype set forth in claim 1 wherein each of said gates has intermittentsemi-circular recesses formed in the sides thereof and each of saidwalls is provided with a plurality of semi-circular arcuate rib membersarranged in two symmetrical groups so as to be accommodated respectivelywithin said recesses in closely spaced relation thereto for allpositions of said gates.

5. An escrow cup for coin-operated vending machines and the like of thetype set forth in claim 1 wherein the lower ends of each of said gatescarry a group of projecting fingers staggered in such a manner that whensaid gates are in their respective closed positions the fingers in eachgroup project between those in the other in closely spaced relation.

6. An escrow cup for coin-operated vending machines and the like of thetype set forth in claim 1 wherein each of said gates has intermittentrecesses formed in the sides thereof and each of said walls is providedwith a plurality of arcuate rib members arranged in two symmetricalgroups so as to be accommodated respectively within said recesses inclosely spaced relation thereto for all positions of said gates andwherein the lower ends of each of said gates carry a group of projectingfingers staggered in such a manner that when said gates are in theirrespective closed positions the fingers in each group project betweenthose in the other in closely spaced relation.

7. An escrow cup for coin-operated vending machines and the like of thetype set forth in claim 2 wherein each gate has atfixed to the backthereof a member having a slot therein and each gate lever carries a pinat its movable end arranged to be accommodated in said slot, and whereinsaid rotating means comprise a pair of solenoids, one arranged to rotateeach of said gate levers whereby enerization of a selected one of saidsolenoids will cause the gate associated therewith to be moved towards avertical open position.

8. An escrow cup for coin-operated vending machines and the like of thetype set forth in claim 7 wherein each of said gate levers is arrangedto be approximately perpendicular to its respective gate when the latteris in its closed angular position so as to positively lock said gateagainst opening other than by energization of its correspondingsolenoid, and wherein each of said solenoids has a movable plunger whichis directly connected to its corresponding gate lever for rotation ofthe latter.

9. An escrow cup for coin-operated vending machines and the like,comprising: a housing including a vertical rear wall and a parallelfront wall spaced therefrom each of which is provided with a pluralityof arcuate rib members arranged in two symmetrical groups; a pair ofside gates pivotally suspended on parallel axes perpendicular to saidwalls, said gates being disposed between said walls and being movable torespective closed angular positions so as to form a V-shaped structurewhich in conjunction with said walls provides a container adapted tohold coins deposited therein, said gates having intermittent recessesformed in the sides thereof to accommodate said arcuate rib members inclosely spaced relation thereto for all positions of said gates; a pairof coin-receiving means, one disposed beneath each of said gates; meansfor normally holding said gates in said closed positions; a pair ofgate-opening means, one for pivoting each of said gates towards itsvertical open position; and means for actuating a selected one of saidgate opening means whereby any coins within said container will bedropped to a predetermined one of said coin-receiving means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS450,379 Sinclaire Apr. 14, 1891 2,284,755 Melick June 2, 1942

